tangopapa

Hello everyone, I'm new here obviously and wanted to introduce myself. Seems like everyone is pretty friendly and almost family here. I recently sold my mountain bike and decided I wanted to get into road cycling because I moved next to the SART and PCH so I'll be doing most my driving towards Yorba Linda and back. I mainly want to ride to get in some cardio work while getting outdoors and breathing some fresh air... the long rides relax my mind.

Having limited knowledge of road cycles I would like to ask everyones expertise here. The reason why I intro'd into the SOCAL section is because I'd like to purchase a bike here locally and support the shops... I'm looking to get a good entry bike that can be used in my intermediate stages mainly because I'm about 80% sure this is something I will stick with but don't want to buy a 1k bike w/o knowing my true level of commitment. If things go according to plan I'm sure I'll be upgrading in 1.5 years if not sooner. For now I'm hoping to get something around $500, is that possible?

I'm sure a used cycle would probably be my best bet but have had no luck on craigslist. I was hoping some of you may point me into the right direction or knew of any local bikes at the local bike shops. I'm looking for something around 53.

Welrish

I bought an entry level Specialized Sequoia last fall. I don't have many miles on it yet (about 50) because of the winter weather, but the miles I did put on it, I am real happy with it. It was a used 2 year old bike from a LBS. I figure I will build up my road miles on it (I also ride a hybrid) and will upgrade later if at all. I got it for $600.00 with a lot of extras. Good luck, you will find something.

tangopapa

I actually just went and got the 09 Fuji Roubaix from Performance Bike. It came w/ Tiagra/105 components and when I test rode it I could see why people pay for the better components, wow what a difference. I was just at Bicycle Discovery but they weren't as helpful as PerfBicy. BD really wanted me to get the Trek and didn't even entertain any of my questions w/ the other bikes. Aside from pushing that trek on me they were helpful w/ everything else but I just didn't like being locked into 1 bike so I went next door.

bretgross

Congrats on the new bike. I'm sure you'll enjoy it -- and it looks like there will be several good riding days this week.

tangopapa

Thanks! I went for about 10 miles yesterday as we had a good few hours of no rain and light winds on the SART. I really didn't even care if it rained or not, i was so excited to get on the bike and log on some miles before heading back for a refit. I'm really glad I went w/ a LBS, the fitting was expected but the life time free tune ups were a totally surprise. See you all out this week... I hope to ride a few more times after Wednesday's rain.